1991 Chevrolet C1500 454 SS – AMT Ertl

Ray

10 years ago

c1500_a I’ve purchased a GMC Syclone kit ages ago, mostly due to my father once having owned a GMC Sonoma GT and that they were just badass little trucks and part due to the kit being pretty good! The cars themselves, they were less truck and more sports car due to the fact that their weight carrying ability was turned to dust in favor of weight shedding for the power-to-weight ratio increase. The idea was pretty simple though, it’s a commercial simple box-shaped truck that could out-drag a modern Porsche 911.

That brings me to Chevrolet’s attempt at shoving a giant engine into a simple truck… but then the model kit version. The giant 454 cubic inch/7.6 liter V8 SS engine is replicated pretty well in this case, another one of AMT’s really nice model kits from the early nineties.

Granted, it lacks a lot of details that the same kits of this age did receive. Like glass headlights, decals for the logos on the trim or the dash, but it makes up for it in a huge assortment of extras. It comes with a extra set of front spoilers, a bug-shield, roof spoiler, tailgate spoiler, optional Centerline AAR 228 branded wheels with deep dish rears, CB radio, extra gauges and it just goes on.

The design of it isn’t all that well thought out, while the instructions are crystal clear, the assembling of the engine to the frame was… awkward to say the least.

It’s meant to rest on the transmission mount, but you can’t attach it and have the prong sit correctly until you’ve assembled the exhaust pipes and just about the entire undercarriage. Besides that all, the age of the kit has come through pretty hard.

The decals fell to about 8 pieces and were so thin that they stretched on a mere touch. Granted, can’t blame AMT for it as it’s 24 years old but at the same time, I can. There’s kits from between 1986 and 1990 that have better quality decal sheets from boxes that weren’t still factory sealed.

The tires are made of a nasty rough rubber that was once meant to crawl around the rim of the wheel and sit there but due to the age it’s shrunk and now almost barely even fits around the wheel itself. And speaking of the wheels, I can’t help but notice that they are awkwardly small compared to the rest of the truck. It might just be that the front wheel wells are too big or the tires are too small, but it just has this odd look about it.

But… despite me just being a bit of a nitpick, it really is a nice model all together. The engine’s huge as expected from a 454 cubic inch one, it’s nice and cluttered and the model quality itself has held up really well. Putting it together was a blast and even though the wheels look semi-odd and the headlights are just reflective silver acrylic paint on the glossy enamel background, it looks fantastic.

Now next up in the line of pick ups with big engines are the ’96 S-10 SS and sooner or later the ’79 El Camino SS.